The girls are back, and I’ll let Heather post the details about their Pennsylvania adventure.

Two quick videos before I catch the bus to my office:

1) Here’s Ella figuring out how to use her push car like a walker. We’re starting to meet 14 month olds who are super mobile, and realizing that Elle’s going to be running around in no time (shudder).



2) We had homemade fish and chips and mushy peas for dinner last night. Ella loved the peas, an explored all the fashion possibilities of wearing them. Then she wanted to blow some kisses and give an interview for her many fans.

Milo and I are holding down the fort alone this weekend while Heather and Ella visit our good friends Richy and Marie and Linus in Pittsburgh. Ella, when you’re old enough to read this, remember that Marie introduced your mom and dad. Anything about your parents that you don’t like? It’s her fault–she put us together.

Milo and I have been doing the usual weekend ritual: Farmer’s Market, burrito Saturday night, laundry and cooking on Sunday. (We made a tomato soup that may be worth cutting your trip short, Ellie–tell your mom!) It’s a little lonely here without them.

Meanwhile, the girls have been sending photo updates, and they’ve been paying homage to Mr. Rogers (who should have a religion based on him, although as a Methodist he’d probably disagree … still, this video is a nice benefit from the existence of You Tube). Anyway, Ella’s too young to watch his shows yet, but that didn’t stop mom from putting the Trolley before the horse, so to speak:

And they’ve also found time to enjoy some ice cream:



And play in the fountain:



Behind the puff, Elle is reported to be sporting a new do. Marie’s neighbor came over to teach Heather to do cornrows … hopefully we’ll get photo evidence soon. Have fun, girls, and come home soon!

We had a beautiful summer weekend here, which coincided with Slow Food Nation, a first of its kind event that brought in farmer, cooks, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and most important eaters to a festival of food that strives to live up to the mantra good, clean, and fair. We spent four hours Sunday at the taste pavilion, getting our fill of artisanal food:




There were preserves and honey, complete with live beehives (and super tasty loganberry jam–my favorite thing we ate there):




A pickle pavilion, complete with a really cool “roof” made of jar lids:




And also a self-portrait in a pickle barrel photo booth. At some point (thought not yet) a photo of the pickle-loving Beckstead women will appear here:



There was an amazing display of fish that refused to photograph well:







And some tasty charcuterie curing:




Poke around the Slow Food Nation site and you might find video of a meat slicer with me chewing in the background.

There was also a mess of hay that Ella played in. Another little boy added the hay to her hair. She wasn’t sure she liked that:





Not pictured: Pizza, ice cream, cheese, chocolate, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, bread, and probably something else I’ve failed to mention. More good things to eat than we could hope to get to in four hours.

The cheese and ice cream were the biggest hits with Ella (who is a quite adventurous eater!) but she was also pretty jazzed on this breadstick:



One of the other great discoveries that some friends of ours from San Diego had made a last minute trip and we ran into them there:




Unfortunately, the slowest part of Slow Food Nation was the lines, which meant less time to chat with the people who made the food, and to read all the signs that were meant to educate us about what we were eating. Ella’s favorites were the cheese and ice cream, though she liked the pickles, too.

Today, we went to Golden Gate Park, where the Golden Gate Park Band happened to be playing, and we had picnic with Ella and Milo. She’s been really into giving kisses lately, though getting a picture is like photographing the Loch Ness monster: It disappears in front of the lens. But Heather managed to get one:







Ella’s one-toothed smile is probably the best visual endorsement of what was a great family weekend: